


Symbiosis, Never Predation

by Ehanu



Category: Destiny (Video Games), 僕のヒーローアカデミア | Boku no Hero Academia | My Hero Academia
Genre: Ahamkara Midoriya Izuku, Dragon Midoriya Izuku, Eldritch Midoriya Izuku, Gen, Midoriya Izuku Does Not Have One for All Quirk, Midoriya Izuku Has a Quirk
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-10
Updated: 2020-05-29
Packaged: 2021-03-02 02:00:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 10,406
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23577304
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ehanu/pseuds/Ehanu
Summary: Izuku had only made a singular wish in his entire life. It was staring into the bespectacled eyes of Dr. Tsubasa, who had just delivered the news that he was Quirkless, when Izuku desperately wished that it weren't true, that he did have a Quirk!What he didn't expect was that someone, or something, was listening.
Comments: 29
Kudos: 225





	1. O Vessel Mine

It was a memory that would etch itself into Izuku's mind for all time and eternity, without fading one mote, remaining clear as if it had happened the day before.

He had just come back from the park, bruised and brow-beaten by his best friend. His mother, Inko, had seen his tears and immediately proposed a weekend trip to TDL. He was grateful for that, even if it didn't totally take away the double sting of the day's events. He would've possibly been able to handle the news that he was Quirkless, but then he made the mistake of telling Kacchan.

His nickname for Izuku, "Deku," hurt that much more now.

They went out the very next morning and got the pass for both parks over the course of two days. He could almost forget the hurt of the last day while at the park, even if at times he felt as if he were making too much effort to have a fun time. But the hours flew by, and before he knew it, they were back on the evening train bound for Musutafu again.

Izuku watched the city lights pass by in wonder, like they were stars zipping by and he was in the spaceship traveling through it all. He imagined a commander on a communications link briefing him before his mission to take out the Commander of a Legion of Super-Soldiers that have enslaved the Martian Colonists. It was a war, whether they wanted it or not, and Izuku was the last of the Shadow Summoners to fight off the Super-Soldier threat! He raised his fist and gave a quiet battle cry that he imagined ringing through Mars' landscape.

Screeching metal tore through the atmosphere as he was nearly flung from his seat. The train's lights went black, leaving them all in near-total darkness. Cries of alarm came from the other passengers and Izuku heard his mother yelp in surprise. Before the train fully came to a stop, Izuku already was clambering to the window, wondering what they had hit. No, they hadn't hit something, that screech meant the emergency brakes had engaged. So it had to be a loss of power.

Izuku's eyes widened as he saw that the bright city's lights had disappeared. It was a total power outage! But how far around does it go? The rail system is on a separate power grid by necessity, so it couldn't be just a small localized outage. No, there were lights he could see at the Skytree tower a mere block away, which meant there were some places with electricity. Except, it was the only lights that he could see for miles around. And they were placed wrong, not like typical lighting but more like... someone was... climbing it...

A chill shot through him as he realized it wasn't just someone, but several someones, and lights bursting into existence before snuffing out was the usage of powers! He counted six of them fighting against two large creatures, where more illumination came from. But it was... strange, off, not like typical light... it was more of an... "unlight" that just so happened to energize the visible spectrum similar to light...

The creatures looked like dragons of mythical lore. Appendages lashed out at the humanoids in perfect harmony. Each strike of their claws glowed with unholy energy, their tails whipped like snakes of their own minds. Even their wings slashed out like great, thin blades with force enough to ripple the air. But for all that effort, they scarcely touched the beings that Izuku could only reason as Pro Heroes. The Heroes used their powers in perfect tandem, seeming to dance with the draconic villains. As he watched them, he noticed three distinct styles with how they dodged and attacked.

Two would flit around the trusses of the tower, their feet barely touching the precarious perches before they were bounding into the air with bursts of light flinging them even higher mid-air, flinging knives or loosing arrows with blinding speed. Where that pair were like squirrels, another pair were more like graceful storks, slowly gliding through the air and casting colors out with every wave of their glowing forms. The last duo were definitely human hammers, flinging themselves against the dragons again and again with explosions of blue and orange.

It was magnificent, and for a moment Izuku forgot his terrible day.

The battle moved upwards, higher on the Skytree tower. He watched every moment, unblinkingly attentive. Fire, lightning, and unlight pierced the dark night sky, illuminating it like the fireworks at the TDL resort. The combatants moved faster by the second, leaping and flying with greater speed until they became near blurs trailing light across the dark sky. No sooner had the fight reached the top of the tower than the combat surpassed even that blazing intensity. The two dragons lifted themselves up above the tower's needle, spreading their great wings and opening their jaws. The otherworldly unfire they breathed seemed to gather into a churning orb in their maws. Fierce brightness pierced the sky like the sun, blinding Izuku for but a moment. His eyes only widened, undaunted by the harsher light. Fires lanced out from the miniature sun's epicenter, the heroes firing something into the opening maws of the two dragons.

A starburst flashed through the sky, this one forcing Izuku to look away. Suddenly, his seat lurched beneath him, throwing him to the floor as he heard a thousand voices cry out in one terrible scream, his mother's among them. He saw the floor flying towards him, but only had time enough for one short yell of alarm before his forehead crashed into the ground and his world turned dark.

\--------------------------------

The moment Izuku's eyes opened, his sight was met with darkness. This was no mere absence of light, he realized, but an all-consuming Dark that sucked out the warmth and light of all that it touched. The only sound were his panting gasps echoing from unseen walls, shivers obvious in the sound of his voice. Despite how this place sucked illumination from everything, he still could see the area immediately around himself. He seemed to be alone, but...

...why did he feel something's gaze upon him?

**_"How curious."_ **

Izuku froze, panic welling up as quickly as his frightened tears. Something moved in the darkness, slithering through the shadows as if it were merely part of them coming alive. He followed the sinewy thing upwards with his eyes until he was craning his neck back. A gasp cut from his vocals, echoing throughout the dark space as pupil-less eyes opened, glowing with a sickening silver aura.

**_"In a world filled with those that can accomplish the fantastic, none has quite as powerful a will as this little one. What do you think, Huginn?"_ **

The tears flowed freely down Izuku's face now as the great beast moved into the not-light, revealing two great tusks adorning a pointed muzzle. Its dark ebony scales seemed to steal only more light from the air as its terrifying regard turned towards Izuku's diminutive frame. A kiss of ice shot down his spine as he felt another's gaze behind him. He unstuck himself just enough to turn around before another creature was sidling out from the shadows, this one similar to the black-scaled beast but with emerald scales that seemed to bleed a noxious green aura into the space around it.

_" **You think rightly, Muninn. Many do have a will comparable to this one's, but are far too absorbed with the ways of their world. To have a soul so young and impressionable yet brimming with such resolve? We can't let one such as himself go to waste."**_

**-** \----------------

"Izuku!"

His eyes shot open to the visage of Inko darting from her seat. He blearily returned to wakefulness as he confusedly blinked at her. Why was she rubbing his head? The pain was already disappearing as he blinked away the last dregs of returning from the unconscious world.

"Mom? How long... how long was I out?"

"What do you mean how long were you... Izuku! What happened to your eyes?"

The bleariness vanished as easily as smoke in the wind as he felt panic arise at Inko's tone. He shot from her arms and back into his window seat to look at his reflection. Izuku's spine chilled as he saw what his mom had meant.

No longer green, his eyes had become heterochromatic. One silver and one gold, his irises lent him an ethereal, otherworldly appearance. And were his eyes glowing? Even in the dark, it was hard to tell if it was his eyes glowing or if the lights just off the track were...

Izuku's yelp of discomfort was lost in the sea of voices also crying out as the train's lights suddenly flared back into existence. With a jolt, the train began moving again as the conductor apologized over the PA for the unforeseen delay. Already, the Skytree tower was rapidly moving from line of sight, but Izuku wouldn't let it before he got one last look at the results of the battle. He blinked his dual-colored eyes at what he saw.

Or rather, what he didn't see.

The dragon villains and the six heroes were gone. Izuku turned his head this way and that, trying to find a sign of where they had gone, or even the police vehicles sent to clean up after the battle. But not a single sign of them was visible from this point. For all that he had seen take place, not a trace of an epic battle was to be found anywhere that he could see on the tower, at least as it vanished from the accelerating train's sight.

"Izuku, is something the matter?" Inko said. "Are you feeling okay?"

"I'm... I'm okay, Mom," Izuku said, sitting back with a pout. "I just really wanted to see the heroes fighting the dragons some more."

"Honey... what dragons?"

"The ones that were on the tower, fighting against the six heroes with the bright Quirks and lasers and stuff."

"Izuku... are you sure your head is okay?" He turned towards Inko at her tone, seeing incredible worry etched on her face and tears nearly starting to flow again.

"Yeah, Mom, I really feel okay. Why?"

"There were no heroes or dragons on the Skytree tower. The lights just went out and you suddenly fell from your chair."

"But... but what about the fighting, and there was... there was an explosion that rocked the entire train! I heard... I heard you screaming!"

"I wasn't screaming, Izuku. Nobody was."

He really didn't like the look on Inko's face. It was despair, this he knew, as he had seen it twice now today. The first time was when the doctor had told him to give up his dreams of being a hero. He didn't want her to feel sad anymore, not at his expense, especially not when he struggled to retain hope in his own heart.

"I'm sorry, Izuku. I am so sorry!"

She rushed forward and held him tight as her tears started flowing in a fresh deluge. But Izuku didn't feel the despair of his mother. He felt... pity for her?

_'No, Mom, that's not what I wanted you to say. I wanted you to say...'_

**_"That you can be a hero?"_ **

Icicles shot through him, his breath hitched, and suddenly the lights around the cabin seemed far too dim to his eyes. Something wavered in his vision between the aisles. Familiar tusks materialized on triangular heads, pupil-less eyes unblinkingly regarding him, leathery wings spreading impossibly wide for the tight space. The lack of anyone else's reactions to a pair of dragons black and green suddenly appearing, and then his own mother's lack of understanding when he mentioned the heroes fighting the dragons...

_'That means...'_

**_"Nobody can interrupt us,"_ **the dragons "spoke," though their mouths never moved. **_"We are safe and cozy within the confines of your soul. No one can see nor hear us anymore, and there is no one to get in our way."_**

 _'You guys... you're villains. Those heroes were fighting to take you down. They... they won, that means you're... you can't hurt anyone anymore!'_ Izuku's face almost broke into a grin as he made the silent declaration in challenge to the surely-dead dragon spirits.

His smile vanished as the two dragons laughed immediately at his statement, moving forward towards him and Inko with a threatening aura that made him only embrace his weeping mother all the tighter.

 ** _"Ah, this realm is so rife with possibilities,"_ **one dragon's voice said, the green one, as he - at least, it sounded male- turned his gaze towards the black one, **_"Don't you agree, Muninn?"_**

 _" **It will be refreshing to take in this new realm, Huginn,"**_ the one named Muninn said, her gaze then turning towards Izuku. **_"I look forward to what our host will show us in this place. But, oh, that compares little to what will be wrought through his desires."_**

Muninn was near enough to bend over and open her mouth over the two Midoriyas. Izuku felt the chilling unwarmth brush over his skin, raising goosebumps over his skin.

"Goodness, Izuku, what's the matter? You feel really cold."

He wasn't feeling good anymore. Bile rose in his throat as he continued looking at the forms of Huginn and Muninn standing over them. Something felt WRONG about them! They weren't real, yet they felt more real than even his own mom holding him! Strength left his body, and he could only slouch deeper into his seat as he felt suddenly far too small. The beasts seemed to grow larger before him, their wings spread to the sky-that-wasn't-there. He was on the train, he was still on the train, this is all just a weird hallucination. It had to be. He just wished that...

Izuku halted that thought. His eyes caught a twinkle in the eyes of both Huginn and Muninn as soon as the word "wish" had entered his mind. He didn't trust them, but he didn't want them to triumph. He was going to be a hero! He wouldn't let villains like these win! Even if it was the last thing he did!

But he was so tired. Izuku didn't find it necessary to wish for something he felt coming mere seconds away.

"Mom. 'm tired... gonna sleep, m'kay?" Izuku mumbled as he felt his conscious slip.

He paid no mind to Inko's panicked cries in her attempts to keep him awake. He let his consciousness drift, feeling triumph as he caught a flash of something unpleasant flash across both dragons' eyes. They had wanted him to make a wish. Now they were unhappy he didn't finish making it.

Good.

**_"You may have avoided making a wish_ this _time, Izuku Midoriya. But know this: we are bound together eternal and you will one day give unto us of your power. We are a patient kind, us Ahamkara, and one day we will feed off your strength. Now rest well, you will need that power, o vessel mine."_**

Then, with nary even a whisper of the wind, the dragons vanished before his eyes. He buried his face in Inko's shoulder, shivering in fear as a realization came to him. Eyes of gold and silver, combined with seeing dragons that talked into his thoughts, did that mean he had a Quirk after all? But the doctor had said he wouldn't get one. Was the doctor wrong? He thought doctors always knew what was going on, though. Could it be possible to have a Quirk without any detectable traces of one?

Was it possible for someone's Quirk to take control of them?

He didn't know, and that scared Izuku. He sat there in his mom's arms, crying silently in fear. He almost wished for the Quirk to go away, but then he remembered the dragons' eyes gleaming as he began to wish for something before and shut off the thought right away. It couldn't be good to wish for something in their presence, he realized, and Izuku swore that he would never wish for anything he couldn't himself attain through enough effort.

 _'I'm still going to be a Hero, with or without a Quirk,'_ he swore, his tears drying. _'I will reach my dream and be the greatest Hero the likes of All Might would be proud of!'_

Huginn and Muninn chuckled callously at Izuku's words, but it only hardened his resolve even greater. He WILL become a Hero, and it would be without making a single wish! So what, the villains in his soul think they can subvert him? He would prove them wrong, them and everyone else who called him useless, a weakling, a deku, or an idiot!

And he was going to get so strong that his mom would never have to cry again!


	2. Parting Words

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's this, I'm not very sure of it. My muse was iffy albeit had motivation through most of it, but overall I think it is quite goodly.

Izuku shouldered his pack as he struggled to fight down the emotions and tears threatening to spill over from his eyes. Huginn and Muninn were speechless, but not silent as their growls of rage echoed in his skull. A sniffle still escaped, despite him. The way Kacchan smiled smugly, walking out with his minions, laughing at Izuku's cowardice... it bounced around his mind's eye as he reached into the pond for his burnt and soggy notebook. "That's not koi food, stupid fish," Izuku said to the fish curiously nibbling at his notes.

And then his "recommendation" was just another kick in the teeth.

_ 'If I really did do that, then you'd be guilty of instigating a suicide, you jerk!'  _ Izuku thought.

He made his way home after, face towards the asphalt as he walked in mostly-silence. The dragons' continued growling contrasted with how Izuku felt, though it was a strange sort of soothing lullaby that he had come to recognize as Huginn and Muninn attempting to comfort him. It was a fiery rage that would burn and destroy had they still possessed physical bodies. A small smile tugged at his mouth as a clear image imprinted in his mind of the two nightmare-ish drakes curling their bodies around him, teeth bared in the general direction of Kacchan's home.

Izuku got the distinct impression of dark shadowy flames flickering from their maws, feeling sparks of it over him. That was something interesting to find out, he reflected. Huginn and Muninn couldn't affect any part of the world except for Izuku himself. They initially lorded this over him, when they had found it out barely a year after having bound to him.

It had made the first few years of elementary school quite difficult. Kacchan's nickname for Izuku had caught on with Kacchan's cronies. Izuku additionally had to deal with regular moments of sudden breathlessness, stinging nettles throughout his nerves, and, Muninn's personal favorite, shadows deepening in his sight to total blindness for hours at a time.

It was this favored tactic that nearly led to the incident in third grade when she and Huginn had finally snapped with his lack of wish-making. It was while he was running from Kacchan when Muninn gave him the ultimatum:  **_"If you really want to be safe, you'll ask it of us now."_ **

He kept running through the woods to the mad cackling of Huginn, Muninn, and, somewhere far behind him, Kacchan's group. Izuku made it a rather surprising distance completely blind, only bouncing his shoulders occasionally off the rare tree trunk, before Huginn and Muninn promptly stopped laughing and began screaming desperately for him to stop running. When he hadn't, light abruptly bloomed across his sight and he could see again. He also saw he was running straight towards a cliff. He almost stopped in enough time, nearly falling before he could grab a tree root growing from the side. Izuku had sat there for hours crying in fear, though neither Huginn nor Muninn said anything for once in the years since their bonding to him. Eventually, hours later as the sun started dipping below the horizon, he was found by the search teams. Air Jet was the one to pull him carefully from the tree and deliver him to his crying mother below.

It was from that day forward that something changed in Huginn and Muninn's timbre...

A growl pulsed through his mind again, startling Izuku back to the present. He looked around his surroundings with trepidation, but finding nobody in his vicinity. It was only him, the dragons in his head, and the long tunnel that marked the halfway point to his home. He sighed, reaching out in his thoughts to the two bound to his soul. At the touch of his mental probe, Huginn and Muninn materialized before him, as real as if they were actually there.

Izuku wordlessly reached out both hands to their snouts, their angered rumblings calming as they leaned into his hands. Their scaled hides always had a confusing sensation, feeling both warm and cold. But it had quickly become something of comfort to Izuku after that day when Huginn and Muninn nearly killed him.

Which brought forward fresh the question one more time in Izuku's thoughts, the phrase shaping itself into coherence before he could stop it.

Muninn chuckled mirthfully at Izuku, bringing to bear the realization that he had asked them again. "N-no, wai-wait, I didn't mean... you guys already answered plenty of times... I a-a-already know what you answ-"

**_'I've told you this as many times as I've answered that question, o dear one mine,'_ ** Huginn thrummed kindly,  **_'it very well may have been my sister and I were always destined to be your Quirk, or perhaps your Quirk may simply be an interdimensional soul-anchor. Who knows? I don't, nor my sister, neither do we care to. You are our vessel, and you saved us from an eternity lashed to the hearts of those who slaughtered us.'_ **

Muninn chuffed in agreement, butting her head softly into Izuku's shoulder.

**_'Such a life would've been absolutely dull, if you ask me,'_ ** Muninn said, breaking her preferred silence.

"I guess that's true," Izuku said, feeling a longing pang in his heart at the thought. Years of practice had him quenching the thought before it grew out of hand. Even if he totally trusted Huginn and Muninn, he didn't want to torment them with the temptation of a wish made. Though they would surely be kind and fair in their granting, they had sworn off granting wishes years ago.

They spent a few minutes more before the tunnel, Izuku rubbing their muzzles in just the right spots that they liked. But he felt the passage of time and knew he should get home to prevent Mom from worrying. And, besides, Huginn and Muninn were going to finally tell him their life stories from start-to-finish.

He smiled at the thought, Huginn and Muninn withdrawing their snouts with a smile before disappearing into his soul again. They had withheld much of their pasts from him, though now it was a genuine reluctance to mar his mostly-carefree life. He hadn't dared before to ask them because of how they frightened him as a kid, but then didn't dare to do so as he gained trust in them and hadn't wanted them to talk about their darker days. Although they did let slip some tidbits over the years, such as actual energies present in their home that were simply called the Sky and the Deep, though they had other names. That there were many non-human entities present in that dimension both hostile and friendly. Though he did manage to force from them stories about the Sky's servants, simply called "Guardians," how the Hunters swiftly weaved through their battles with grace and precision, how the Titans stood steadfast as a wall before the onslaught, and how the Warlocks wielded their Light energy in mysterious ways that were no doubt some form of higher physics and sciences.

Izuku refused to call it "magic."

Huginn had told him that day of how they were also beings of the Deep, a force many considered an all-consuming Dark that sought to end all life that dared to exist. 'It is not so simple as that, though. There can be no Dark without Light, no creation without entropy.'

But now he was going to learn more about their home, and he swore nothing would get him down anymore today!

He was more easily able to force the smile on his face. He raised a triumphant fist in the air as he marched forward, laughing just as All Might would whenever saving lives or stopping villains. Huginn and Muninn grumbled, still not over the day's events in general, but remained peaceful for Izuku's sake. With a fist in the air, he marched forth and forced a boisterous laugh he didn't fully mean. He had to just keep smiling, resolving to always do the right thing regardless. Because that's what a hero would do!

The dragons thrummed in Izuku's soul coolly, their mood improving at Izuku's determination but still planning petty revenge for those that upset Izuku today. Even if they couldn't physically follow through with them on their own, it still brought a catharsis imagining the blond delinquent suddenly finding his socks one size too small or small, yet inconvenient puddles placed about his residence. As for the rest of the class, well, they still deserved their own set of sidewalks that were buckling up just enough to make them stumble several times throughout the day. Of course, if push comes to shove, they could always--

"AUUUGGHHmmmmmmmppphh!!!" Izuku cried, before his scream was cut off by something lukewarm and viscous shoved into his mouth and nose. The thick sludge wrapped around his body in a flash as a large, unblinking eye moved into his sight.

"You'll make a perfect skin-suit for me to hide in, kid!"

A villain! He clawed at the sludge wrapped around him as he felt the disgusting thing pushing into his throat. Izuku's lungs began to burn as he struggled in vain, panic setting in. His muffled screams went unheard save for the now violently roaring dragons in his mind. He had never heard them roaring this loudly, he could almost feel the energy from them this time. His arms went limp as dark shadows edged his vision.

"Don't worry, I'm just taking over your body. It'll be easier for both of us if you don't fight back."

Izuku could see Huginn appearing in the corner of his eye, tail thrashing like a rocket-propelled whip and claws gauging in the concrete. He couldn't see Muninn, but knew she was trying to manifest more physically as the audibly-pained roars she let loose more-sporadically were any indication. Waves of power swarmed off of both of them, filling Izuku's mind as he looked Huginn in the eye.

"It'll only hurt for a minute. You'll feel better, soon!"

Tears of agony filled the fleeing remnants of his sight as shadowy tendrils flowed more clearly over his sight. Huginn stomped closer, claws flexing as if he wanted to slice the villain into shreds. But such an action would risk Izuku, even if cathartic. Huginn's pupil danced all over the villain's form as if searching for a way he could help Izuku instead, but Izuku could see the spark of hope light up as an idea occurred to Huginn.

**_'Make a wish! You must make a wish! We cannot save you unless you make it a wish, o master mine!'_ **

He couldn't think straight, struggling to breath through the appalling taste of the villain's slimy mass entrapping him. Huginn's words bounced through his mind like an empty jar, all of Izuku's thoughts vacating the unfathomable void of his mind. He twisted, willing his limbs to movement once more to pull at the unending torrent of vile liquid stifling his ability to breathe.

"Grab all you want, my body's made of fluid."

His arms buried under the piling mass of goo, tingling with the electric sensation of numbness arcing across all of his nerves like miniature lightning storms through his body.

**_'Please! You cannot die! Just one wish!'_ **

Muninn hissed in rage, the sound as loud as Huginn's terrified screams. How could he hope to continue, though? His lungs were aflame with lack of oxygen, twin suns that were burning out their last. Blackness almost totally overtook his vision. He couldn't feel anything below his navel. He was feeling so sleepy, and he couldn't see anymore. A distinct coldness rose up around his face, something in the deepest corner of his still-conscious mind recognized it as the villain finishing the cocoon around Izuku. It was strange, simultaneously the most painful and comforting experience in his soon-to-be-over life. Yes, a nap sounded good right now...

"Thanks for the help. You're a real hero to me, kid."

Huginn and Muninn silenced, but their emotions roiled louder than any sound they could make.

Horror.

They were losing Izuku.

Their only family.

Dying, before their very eyes.

And this monster dares to mock Izuku's wish to be a hero!?

Together, Huginn and Muninn roared one last time, calling out to the one remaining spark of life left in Izuku's fading soul. It was an emerald ember to the torrential waterfall of sickly black, its light small, but brilliant. To this dying light, they poured their sorrow, their fear, and their rage. He never had made a single wish in the decade that they had been bound to him, even now in his dying breaths he had no place in his heart for a wish.

So be it! They would grant their own last wish!

Izuku's soul pulsed and grew with the arcane energies channelling from the two ethereal dragons. The last spark darkened with an unholy flame that beat back the all-devouring sludge with a vengeance, all of their hatred and fear combining with their hope and love for their host. Huginn felt it first as a pain unlike anything he ever felt before ignited in his heart-of-hearts, nearly choking him with the sensation of... something leaving him. Muninn writhed, a strange stabbing sensation erupted in her core like a syringe pulling out strength.

Ahamkara were only ever meant to grant wishes, never to make them. This they knew, and this agony served as a riotous warning to keep from continuing. But they ignored it and wished all the stronger, their pain intensifying with the growing shadow of Izuku's soul.

**_'For you, Izuku,'_ ** Huginn said, hoping his words would remain with Izuku, even when the deed was done. He winced in agony as another pain throbbed through his form, wracking every ethereal feeling within him. Huginn gasped, collapsing to the floor of where he stood. His energy faltered only a moment, but it was enough to halt his power's influence against the disgusting corruption. He watched helplessly as the shade of Izuku's empowered soul began to shrink once more, the grime cascading down against Muninn's efforts effortlessly. He had to get back up, to help his sister, he couldn't...!

**_'Do it for him, o brother mine.'_ **

Muninn's words had an immediate effect. Huginn felt himself suffused with just a little more strength, only needing the thought of Izuku's safety to press on as he opened the channel of his soul once more. The avalanche halted as their host's spirit seemed to raise its hands up and lift the sludge off of itself like a wet blanket. It stumbled and pushed, growing taller, filling the vacant spaces where it was before this attack.

One final wave of agony swept through Huginn, feeling the last of his power leaving him. His form flickered and faded as he stumbled to the ground, fully drained of energy. Muninn wasn't visible, as usual when not presenting for Izuku, but he could sense her flicker like a candle in the wind. Her energy finally gave out as well and her presence began to darken to Huginn's sight.

Their energy spent and drained, Huginn and Muninn finally ceased the energy streams. But even with the dark power not feeding into it, their host's soul continued to grow in strength and size. As it neared its previous capacity, it became increasingly similar to how it appeared before, but with an umbre aura shining instead of its former burning starlight. Huginn sighed, satisfied with the results of his and Muninn's efforts when he saw the final drop of corruptive sludge disappear from Izuku's soul-space.

Izuku's soul kept growing, pushing past the boundaries of the cavernous space. The Dark energies eddied to-and-fro from his soul as it pulsed and throbbed with destabilized energy. Huginn, no longer capable of remaining intact, closed his eyes as the last of his conscious thoughts drifted to nothingness.

**_'Your soul is your own once again, Izuku Midoriya,'_ ** Huginn said.  **_'Weep not for us, before you, our lives were lives filled with wickedness. You gave us purpose. You showed us love. You became our family. For that, we are eternally grateful. We only hope this final gift will help you achieve your dreams, o child mine.'_ **

Then with a breath of the wind, Huginn and Muninn the Twin Ahamkara, were no more.

But though they passed from life, the effects of their final act had only just begun to arise in Izuku's body. The growing energy from his empowering soul bled from the spirit realm and into the material. Emerald scales erupted across his skin, his hair grew out longer and thicker, his face contorted and stretched, all this taking place while the sludge villain remained none the wiser to his prey becoming predator.

####  Then, the villain suddenly cried out in pain as his tendrils were suddenly sliced in twain from the boy's throat.

"You twerp! I will make you PAY for that!" the villain yelled. He lashed another tendril for the boy's mouth, but it crashed into something hard and unyielding. It felt strange and unfamiliar, meaning he had used his Quirk! A flash of anger shot through him at the boy's impetuousness as he reached higher where he thought his mouth would be. Even still, if his Quirk was anything like that Mt Lady's, he would find a good use for it.

He screamed as he felt something slice into him again and actually pierce him. His eye widened as an alien hand ripped out from him, bearing wicked-black claws and noxious-green scales. The hand lashed down, clamping on his slimey form. Agony arced from where the claws had sprung. Another beclawed hand joined the first and added more pain to his torment. Light flickered from where the claws made contact. He felt them push apart, opening a hole for a triangular muzzle to push free gasping for air.

It was a dragon, an honest-to-gods dragon. The beast was covered head to toe in green of varying shades, noxious-neon scales covering most of it and dark-forest making up his ventral plates. Spikey tusks jutted forward from his chin, with a paired trio of horns lining the back of his skull. Instead of a crest, it bore a thick mane that fell all the way to its shoulders, reaching an endpoint between two great wings that furled themselves on its back. The sail-like limbs seemed to bleed shadows, the wispy darkness curling in the still air. Its tail whipped to-and-fro in the air behind it, bearing curved blades near the tip like a half-finished macuahuitl.

Then the dragon opened its eyes, all four eyes.

The villain felt true terror fill his slimey heart under the pupil-less regard of those silver and gold orbs. The huge beast took up much of the tunnel, outsizing even him in his largest as it stalked closer. It opened its maw, white-blue energy crackling as if eager to be released.

And then the beast suddenly stopped moving, somehow looking decisive. Before the sludge villain could wonder what it was doing, the drake opened its fanged maw and an electric detonation shattered the quiet afternoon. Birds took wing as a warbling scream tore through the previously-still air. Somewhere forbidden, a dectet of eyes blinked as the beast stirred. In a hidden bar, a man-shaped mist pulled uncomfortably at his collar as his ward listened to their Sensei. Nearer the blast, a sensitive pair of ears straining for that precise voice twitched in recognition, the man braking hard and jumping towards the source in a mighty leap in an instant.

In the distance, he saw a white-blue wave of energy erupt into being. A dome of electricity surged not too far from him, marking where he heard the scream. He failed to recognize the energy wave as belonging to any heroes he knew. Not even any of the up-and-coming rookies had any Quirks that unleashed electricity in that sort of patt--

Horror struck Toshinori Yagi's heart as he realized that it must be a  _ civilian!  _ When he finally landed at the scene of the crime, however, Yagi froze.

All Might's years as a Pro Hero had trained him for surprises. Villains and criminals alike sought to pull a fast one on him with secret super moves or hidden strength. There also came the various oddities and bizarre appearances that came with a superhuman society. But the scene before him looked as if it were ripped straight out of a fairy tale. A great emerald dragon took up most of the tunnel's space, facing away from him. Between its legs he saw the sludge villain he had been chasing, but diminished in size to a pitiful puddle. The dragon above him was arcing with bolts of the same white-blue energy from before, sparks of which danced across the villain's body.

"P-p-p-please, I-I-I-I s-s-surrend-d-der," the villain groaned, obviously struggling to work his electrically-charged vocals.

The dragon turned its gaze to see who the sludge was talking to, folding its form like a feline in the space that barely fit it in the first place. Yagi felt ice fill his heart as the quartet of glowing eyes locked with him, the dragon's blank, empty orbs without pupil or iris to show where its stare was directed. The silver half seemed to consume the light near the drake, while the gold ones seemed to burn with a cursed flame.

Suddenly, the bright-yet-not aura faded from the dragon's eyes. Yagi released a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding as the gold and silver light-that-wasn't lessened. Pitch black filled in the sclera and formed a slit amidst the shrinking circles of color, forming eyes that looked far less alien. Their clouded forms sharpened, their owner closing its eyes, but immediately opening them again slowly.

It blinked its four eyes once. Twice. Then it abruptly stumbled and fell to the floor with a solid thump.

Yagi lowered his hands and stepped back. The dragon laid where it fell, completely lax with tongue hanging out, legs splayed across the tunnel's breadth, wings and tail haphazardly askew. He stood a moment longer, alert for any signs that the dragon's sudden nap was a ruse. But its barrel chest rose and fell evenly with the deep breaths gusting from its muzzle.

With the beast no longer hunched over like a cornered animal, the thick tension disappeared. Yagi took a breath, but retained his hold on his powered form as he carefully picked his way between the dragon's limbs to where the sludge villain continued to struggle to escape. It was a laughably effortless arrest, especially after he emptied one of his soda liters to hold the villain.

After securing the literal criminal filth away, Yagi sighed as he turned to the great dragon once more. He took a deep breath as he looked it over, debating what to do. Despite its rather eerie looks and earlier display of power, it didn't feel like a threat. While the lightning it had produced had covered a broad area, he hadn't heard any cries of duress besides the ones from the now-contained sludge villain. And even then, the dragon had only incapacitated the slimey crook. Yagi shuddered to think what would've happened had the villain ran into someone with a Quirk less-suited for fighting it off.

Even still, he silently begged that the dragon would remain calm enough to explain itself to him. Clearing his throat, he leaned over and repeatedly patted between the dragon's chin-tusk and aft-cranial spikes.

"Hey, wake up! Hey!"

A great rumbling strum reverberated from the dragon's throat as its silver eyes slid open, staring unseeingly past Yagi's legs. Its larger golden eyes opened up as its slit-pupils contracted and the tetrad of oculus all turned upwards to look in Yagi's eyes.

"Thought we lost you there!" Yagi declared joyously.

The comprehension flooding into the dragon's eyes was Yagi's only warning.

A scream ripped from the dragon's vocals, slicing into the air with deafening power. Yagi grunted, stepping back as he slammed his palms over his ears. The dragon reeled back as if to get away from Yagi, but its head collided against the tunnel ceiling with a solid boom of cracking concrete. The instant its head bounced off the ceiling, its screech cut off with an abrupt yelp of pain.

Yagi shook his head, ears ringing but otherwise undamaged. He took in the dragon as it laid there, eyes clenched shut in obvious pain while rubbing at its head with its forepaws. Yagi glanced up to the tunnel's roof, wincing at the spiderwebbing cracks in the shape of the dragon's head.

The terrifying aura of the creature was gone with its composure, lying there rubbing its head and muttering about something Yagi didn't pay much mind to. He stepped forward to the creature with his smile in place and squatted down near his head.

"That was quite the ringer, there! Are you okay?"

_ "I don't know," _ came a voice into Yagi's mind, bouncing in his thoughts like an errant bumblebee struggling to find egress from a house. He flinched at the unexpected means of speech, but pushed down the judgemental thoughts of the beast's - or rather, from the sound of the voice, the kid's - rather off-putting appearance. The dragon-kid's pain seemed to be passing to tolerable levels, as he pulled one paw away and opened two eyes. When he saw All Might squatting beside him still, the dragon's other two eyes opened and all four widened in a, thankfully calmer, realization as its head rose from the ground.

But then it tilted its head, confusion apparent on its face (or was it a muzzle?) as if it found Yagi's hero form peculiar in some way. He internally winced, remembering a comment Ryuko had made one time of her own dragon form possessing slightly enhanced senses. What if this one could smell his injury somehow?  _ 'Shit, I can't afford that getting ou-' _

_ "I thought you were taller,"  _ it said, snapping Yagi from his thoughts.

He paused a beat, before throwing his head back and belting out boisterous guffaws. Quite a few moments passed with him laughing loudly, much to the dragon's wincing displeasure. But Yagi struggled to contain his laughter, so unexpected the comment was that he continued on as if affected by Ms. Joke's Quirk.

"I ap…  _ ahem _ , I apologize, young drake," Yagi said, covering up his pained cough. "I wasn't quite expecting that sort of reaction. You've made my smile a little bit stronger today! May I ask your name?"

_ "Midoriya, s-s-sir, Midoriya Izuku," _ the dragon said,  _ "w-wait, 'young  _ drake _ '? Why did you call me a young… draa...aaake…?" _

Midoriya pulled his other forepaw from his head as if realizing it were there for the first time, staring intently at it with all four eyes wide. Yagi stood there patiently as Midoriya traced his forelimb silently with his eyes, to the shoulder and down his body. Yagi adjusted his thought from before: young Midoriya really was looking at himself as if seeing his body for the first time. He felt his wings with his paws, flinching when he reflexively furled them from his own touch, his tail lashing slowly and nearly frightening him as it bumped into his hind-talons.

_ "Wha… what is… I… what in the... ? But… how!? Huginn? Muninn? What's happened to me? I look like you two, now… you said you wouldn't do anything to me." _

Yagi subtly turned his senses outwards, reaching with his hearing for signs of others around. He disposed of his initial thought they were villains that did this, as Midoriya's tone while speaking their names was filled with a fondness one had for life-long friends. Had they fled upon seeing the villain? Or perhaps when Midoriya had manifested this aspect of his Quirk? No, he said he "looks like" them, now, but Yagi wasn't aware of anyone outside of the Tatsuma family that could look like dragons, and none of  _ them _ had the names Midoriya had mentioned.

_ "Guys? Are you… there?" _

Yagi looked back to Midoriya, seeing the drake looking not at the surroundings, but slightly upward as if he were trying to look for something only he could see.

_ "Huginn? Muninn? Where did you…?" _ Midoriya called out, seemingly unaware he was speaking 'aloud.' His muzzle wrinkled with disquiet as he closed his eyes. Yagi didn't ask, but let him have a moment to collect himself. He went a small distance away and leaned against the wall, feeling the pang reminding him of his nearing limit. Midoriya spent several moments like that, absolutely still. Yagi would've thought him a statue were it not for the extremely subtle rise and fall of his chest.

Just as he was going to try to get Midoriya's attention, the drake's eyes opened, the argent and aurum eyes filled with a look of such strong sorrow that even Midoriya's face clearly conveyed.

"What's the matter?" Yagi said.

_ "Huginn… Muninn… they're.... They're gone!" _

\-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Izuku flushed, feeling ashamed as he sniffled, rubbing his snout. He took one last shuddering breath, releasing it as a long sigh as he looked to his side where All Might, ( _ All Might!!! _ ) stood rubbing his back. He had found the precisely best part underneath the wings, the spot that was just above the wisps of shadow from his wings.

_ "Th-th-thank you, All Might… s-san," _ Izuku said, bowing his head.

"It is no problem at all, young Midoriya," All Might declared, thumping his hand on Izuku with strength enough that would've sent him stumbling, were he still human. "A hero is there to help anyone in their time of need, be it a rescue from a villain or from their own despair. I must apologize, as I really should be off now. I'm late eno-"

_ "W-wait!" _ Izuku said, reaching out a paw towards the blond hero as he stepped away. Yet as All Might stopped and glanced over his shoulder, Izuku's outstretched paw dropped with doubts flooding him; remembrances of his sobbing mother declaring her sorrow, Kacchan declaring him a useless deku, the disinterested doctor bluntly telling him to give up his hero dreams, the many other kids in class calling him Quirkless. He hadn't truly been, even if his Quirk had only been good for invisible conversation partners.

Now that they were gone, though, Izuku found himself wanting them back. He wished they weren't gone, the thought of him being alone in his ramblings again was far too terrifying for him to ponder. But no matter how strongly his heart called out for another wish-dragon like Huginn and Muninn to grant it, Izuku's wish went unfulfilled.

He didn't notice All Might wince suddenly as his muscular body began to steam.

_ "All my life, I've been basically without a good Quirk for hero work,"  _ said Izuku.  _ "I… I have no idea what happened to my power and now I'm… this. I don't know if I can still use this to be a Hero, or if it's just a way to take up more space, I don't even know if I can change back at all. But do you think I could still chase my dreeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaahh…?" _

His jaws and eyes widened in tandem as he beheld the last of a massive cloud of smoky vapor drifting from the Hero. All Might was no longer standing there, but instead stood a small, gaunt-looking figure.

Izuku's question died in his throat as he cast his silver eyes around while keeping his gold ones locked on the figure.  _ Maybe All Might just ran off and this guy happened to be there, there's no need to scream about getting surprised by the classical bait-and-switch… up on this roof, where there's no place to hide besides the tunnel, some trees, and that park bench way down there. Surely I would've heard him flee or hide. So an illusion Quirk, maybe? I wasn't aware All Might had any sidekicks after he parted with Sir Nighteye, but maybe he's been keeping it quiet to avoid the news from allowing information that could-- _

"You really have a motor on that mouth there, young Midoriya," the stranger's scraggly voice said.

_ "Huh? What?" _ Izuku said, snapped out of his thoughts by the stranger using his name.  _ He heard all that? I need to practice with this… telepathy. But how does he know my name? More interestingly, why is he using "young" before my name? All Might did that. Could that mean that…? No, it couldn't be him. This… skeleton-looking guy. Could it? _

"It is, I can assure you that I really am All Miiiiuugh-" he said, suddenly spitting up blood.

This time, Izuku really did scream, though distorted into a half-roar by his drakine vocals.

"You know how fat guys will suck in their gut at the pool to look stronger? Being All Might's kinda like that," the man said, leveraging himself down to sit beside Izuku. "Look, kid, you've seen the real me, now. Do me a favor and don't go posting online about it, okay?"

_ "Yes, A-All Might-s-san, I promise I won't, " _ Izuku said, nodding rigorously.

"Well, I suppose since you know my greatest secret, I may as well introduce myself,  _ properly _ , as Toshinori Yagi," the man, Toshinori, said.

_ "I-it's a pleasure, T… Toshinori-san," _ Izuku said.

The diminished Symbol of Peace and Justice then showed Izuku a disgusting scar on his torso, a relic of a fight from half a decade before, telling him the story in brief behind it. Izuku listened raptly, asking only if it had been from Toxic Chainsaw. Toshinori gave a good-natured chuckle at that before his expression darkened, telling him that it was someone that made even murderers seem gentle in comparison. He told Izuku of how he lived in fear every day, how the smile he wore in his Hero form was a shield for both others and himself against despair. Izuku listened solemnly, as Toshinori painted him a picture of Hero work that actually wasn't all the glitz and glamour that the media or forums would have one believe it to be.

Izuku was no fool, as he suspected much of the rougher parts of Heroics weren't lent nearly as much attention by public officials. His research turned up quite a few stories of victories and triumphs that had actually cost the Hero more than most people had thought it to be. Even hearing it straight from the mouth of the #1 Hero, it wasn't all that surprising that Hero work wasn't really all sunshine-and-rainbows.

"Hey, listen," Toshinori said, after a beat of silence, "you said this side of your power was unknown to you before today, right?"

_ "Yes, Toshinori-san," _ Izuku said,  _ "I had no idea my Quirk was capable of this, even if the sentient aspect of it is gone…" _

A prickle of grief stabbed at his heart as Huginn and Muninn's muzzles flashed in his memory. His eyes burned with the forewarning of tears as he was reminded again of their complete loss. Izuku knew they were gone forever, but it didn't make the feeling go away. It was hard to explain how deeply intrinsic the knowledge felt, like a part of his heart had been taken out and replaced with a shallow copy. He remained silent a moment with his fore paws over his chest, as if the action could summon his dragons back to him.

My  _ dragons? _ Izuku thought.  _ Since when did they become  _ my _ dragons? They were Huginn and Muninn, they didn't belong to me as much as I belonged to them! None of us were properties of each other. If anything, we were family, bound in soul and mind as tightly as any Quirk, if not more so. _

_ Unless… _

_ They meant that we belonged to each other as family? _

**_O child mine..._ **

"Young Midoriya! What's wrong?"

Izuku looked up, a flash of fear racing through him that he had muttered aloud again. However, Toshinori gave no indication of wanting to ask for his latest train of thought, but had stood up and was holding out his hands placatingly. He blinked as rings of black receded from the edges of his vision, the prickling feeling in his paws fading as well. And had Toshinori gotten taller?

Abrupt alarm filled him as he finally noticed he was suddenly laying on the ground. How had he gotten there?

_ "Huh? How did I get down here? I was just barely… standing up,"  _ Izuku said.

Toshinori pulled him up, his face furrowed into an unreadable look. Izuku unsteadily got back to his feet, standing on his hind paws with a fore paw bracing against the wall. He held a paw over his left eyes as the last of the tingling vertigo faded, but only leaving him confused.

_ "Toshinori-san, what… happened?" _

"I asked you about your Quirk, you said something of the sentient aspect being gone, and then you just collapsed to the ground," Toshinori said, the worry clearly etched into his face at the recollection.

_ "I'm sorry, I don't know what came over me," _ Izuku said. But Toshinori was already shaking his head and waving his hand dismissively.

"No need to worry, I should've been more sensitive to your situation," Toshinori said, patting Izuku's shoulder.

After another moment's rest to make sure Izuku wouldn't pass out again, Toshinori asked him a question he never dreamed that All Might, even diminished, would ever ask.

"Would you like me to walk you home?"

Izuku's jaw dropped open, but quickly clamped it shut as a blush spread across his muzzle. All Might offering to walk him home!? He couldn't impose on the Number 1 like that! He probably had a lot of better things to do than to baby-sit a weepy…

_ "YesAllMight-san!" _ Izuku squeaked, clamping his paws over his muzzle as if it could pull back the words. But Toshinori was already chuckling with a warm smile, before his laugh grew into the loud guffaws of his large form, and suddenly the muscle form of All Might stood before him once again.

"Then let us bring this…  _ busy _ day to a close, and get some rest. Tomorrow is a new day, after all!"


	3. Interlude: Drift

He was proud of his slice of the world, a humble diner he simply called The Pork's Chop. It wasn't high-end, but it was quality dining, and it was _his_.

Gomen Tenka smiled as he brought out his keys to lock up his shop. It was another fine day of serving the good folks of Shizuoka and earning his keep. Any day serving the best cuisine was a golden sort of day, in Tenka's opinion. Every patron that had walked in his restaurant's doors always left with full bellies and smiling faces.

He ran a hand over his accumulated stubble as he turned towards his bike. As he was mounting up, he heard the first explosion down the street. The shockwave rumbled through the air with a chilling familiarity, freezing him where he stood on one leg. He cautiously closed his eyes and reached out with his power, or rather his "Quirk" he supposed they were called. To anyone else, Tenka's Quirk seemed extremely versatile.

_Tenka dared not reveal the truth, should speaking of that place return its demons to him._

By all counts, he should've just returned home. The local Hero groups would take care of the problem and rescue any civvies. He could continue on with his humble life without a bother to anyone.

_But his sense of adventure had never died, never let up since his days Drifting._

With a resigned chuckle, he re-oriented his bike and mounted up, pushing down on the pedals as he wheeled in the commotion's direction. "Alright alright alright, let's see what we've got," he muttered, his overpowering curiosity driving him onwards. At the same time, he wondered why he felt so driven for this one villain attack.

Villains. He chuckled. If he were to go by the actual legal definitions for "villain" in this part of the world, then Tenka could technically count himself as a villain. And he wouldn't even be counting the occasional corner he had cut in opening up his restaurant, _those_ corners were just red tape. Tenka ran a tight ship in his kitchen, no sacrifice of sanitation or safety as either of those would mean degraded quality in food.

His musings were halted as he turned another corner and saw the gathering crowd. He slowed down and dismounted a little closer towards the group. He pushed down the kickstand with his foot, stepping over to the edge of the group while trying to appear nonchalant.

When Tenka saw it, he froze solid on the spot.

Covered in patinated bronze plate, it was a towering figure that only just came short of towering above the office buildings to either side of the alley. A shoulder and the opposing thigh glowed with crimson energy from the cores embedded within them. Layered all across its body were meshes of amber and azure fire. One hand was completely substituted for a high-tech tri-barrelled weapon that glowed with the sapphire aura, but it was its other hand that drew the most attention from onlooker and Hero alike.

It held its hand in a half-clenched claw over a glowing white orb, contained within its confines a hostage. A _kid._

Even Tenka's jaded cynicism caved to the thought that _they_ would stoop to that low, and he felt a quiet rage bubble below the surface. But, even with all his experience, there was not much he could do on his own against an Axis Mind!

In the end, he had to force himself to walk away. He felt bad for the kid's family and friends, as no doubt he had drawn the Mind's attention to him as being a threat. And when the Vex detected a threat, they moved to _erase it from reality._

It all happened too fast for Tenka to even react properly.

_Well, at least it'll be quick and painless for the blond greml-_

"KACCHAN!!!"

"MIDORIYA-SHOUNEN, DON'T-"

A mind-rending screech rupturing the air. The air suddenly charged with lightning. Claps of thunder. A roaring beast. A flash of green cloaked in eye-searing blue. A burst of light… no, it was a darkness so deep that it was blinding.

Tenka managed to catch the ungleam of the beast as I shot forward at the Axis Mind, fore-claws clenched tightly and wound up into fists. All _four_ eyes were furiously furrowed and glowing with fiery wrath. Wings bathed in arcing bolts flapped and, with a single mighty thunder-clap, the energized comet collided with the monstrous mechanical terror. Whether by coincidence or design, the emerald heart of the sudden lightning storm impacted directly against the mind-core in its chest.

The Axis Mind's core cracked, the milky-white radiolaria dribbling as its mechanical body was knocked back several asphalt-cracking steps. The blond kid, "Kacchan," dropped as the temporal barrier around him fell, catching himself with only a mild stumble, eyes wide in shock.

The power of the blow ripped into reality with a sound like the rushing wind. To every other person in the vicinity, the air rippled like in a heat-wave. But Tenka's eyes caught the hole tearing into the very fabric of existence between the mechanical and drakine beasts.

Either unseeing or uncaring of the predicament, the green dragon lassoed its tail around the Mind's legs and clamped its claws onto its shoulders. Opening its mouth, crackling Arc energies began coalescing within its throat as the Mind struggled to aim its brightening cannon to force it off. In the end, neither got their chance for follow-up retaliation, as the shorn piece of reality finally gave and exploded with volatile force.

Suddenly, someone was jumping forward, large in stature and blond of hair. He swung a mighty fist and the very air was forced to obey. Gale-force winds whipped up within an instant, firing from the Hero's fist in a curving column that intercepted the energy of the collapsing rift and forced it upwards and away from the civilians in its path. The eyes of the crowd followed the energy up to its final destination in the sky, where it burst forth into a colorful array of a miniature aurora borealis over the prefecture.

Muttering broke out in the crowd as they stood in awe of the Hero that Tenka recognized as that #1 Hotshot, All Might. While the civilians began cheering the weather-changing power of the Symbol of Peace, however, Tenka's eyes remained locked on the now-empty alleyway that contained not a trace of the brief, intense fight.

Only the blond schoolkid remained in the alley, his stance giving away nothing. "Kacchan," the one creature had called him…

Tenka shook his head, he couldn't deny it any longer without risking complacency: there is, or at least there _was_ , an Ahamkara in this reality that an Axis Mind of the Vex had possibly followed. With a snap of his fingers, a tetrahedron appeared in his hand, glowing white on the edges of an impossibly-black core. It looked like the Light didn't have a monopoly on this reality any longer, he realized sorrowfully. It was time for him to close up shop and abandon his identity as Gomen Tenka, only the latest in a growing list of names.

Mounting up his bike, Tenka-now-once-more-The-Drifter pedalled towards his homestead. It was truly a shame that it all went up in smoke so quickly again. He resolved to never let hope bud again after this.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not 100% sure about this, I'm kinda seat-of-pants'ing at this point, even if I do have just a semblance of an eventual end-point for an arc or two. I really don't want this fic to die, though, and will continue to keep on keeping on for the sake of this story. It does have potential and I find my brain coming back to it often enough to still trigger ideas now-and-then.
> 
> For those familiar with Destiny, I hope you'll recognize this not-quite-nondescript cafe owner. For those not quite in the know, [here's a taste of what our man Tenka is like.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CpTXny73gpw)

**Author's Note:**

> This was born of a combination of my love for Izuku and a desire to see more dragon Quirks in the fandom. I have a history of writing stories, then abandoning them, but I really want to break that habit. I hope this is the story that does it, once and for all, so I can break my curse of always having unfinished fics. I haven't had it beta'd, nor do I know how to go about getting a beta, so this is the pretty raw first chapter I have done already.
> 
> I hope against hope that I can finally get a good story finished, and hope this story is the one to do it.


End file.
